Canadian Natural Resources president joins Ottawa's cap on oil and gas emissions
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Here you can see other videos from our team. After Canada's largest oil and gas producer reported $3.5 billion in profit for the second quarter and announced a special dividend for shareholders, the Canadian Natural Resources president joins Ottawa's proposed cap on oil and gas emissions. McKay said the sector is already working to reduce emissions by 22 million metric tons by the year 2030 through the Pathways Alliance, a consortium of six major oilsands producers that has proposed a major carbon capture and sequestration hub for northern Alberta. This cap is unnecessary and overly ambitious in view of our stated preference for governments and industry to work together through the Pathways Initiative to achieve an already announced emission target reduction, McKay said.
Canadian Natural will continue to provide input to the government on the importance of balancing environmental and economic objectives, as well as supporting Canada's allies in energy security. The comments come just days after similar criticisms were made at the Trudeau climate plan by oilpatch leaders, including Cenvous Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix, Imperial Oil CEO Brad Corson and MEG Energy CEO Derek Evans. A discussion paper released last month proposed a cap and trade system or a modified carbon-pricing scheme to drive down emissions, but the federal government has not yet said where the ceiling on emissions could be set. The Canadian oilpatch saw profits go up this quarter due to high energy prices.
CNRL saw record natural gas production of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day Bcf d, an increase of more than 30 per cent from the same period last year. In the second quarter, production averaged approximately 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day boepd, a slight increase over last year s 1.1 million barrels per day. CNRL said it would have to hike its capital expenditures by $200 million this year to account for inflationary pressure on steel, manufactured goods, services and labour. The company said it is spending more on research and development for technologies to reduce CNRL's greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint. According to the company's 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance ESG report released Thursday, the company said it spent 33 per cent more on research and development in 2021 than the previous year.